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Since Oct. 2024, you’ve had the option of getting an Amazon Kindle in color in the form of the Colorsoft model. The original Signature Edition with 32GB of storage was recently also joined by a cheaper 16GB edition for your consideration, though it’s questionable whether the $30 saving is worth it, as you lose wireless charging and the auto brightness setting, as well as half the storage.
In our Amazon Kindle Colorsoft review , you’ll see there’s a lengthy debate over whether the price premium you pay for a color e-reader screen is worth it, compared to the perfectly capable black and white models. For many people monochrome is fine—but if you’ve splurged on color, or you’re wondering if you should, these are the extra tricks you’ve got access to.
Highlight in color
This is one of the most useful extra features you get with a color screen: the ability to use different colors when you’re highlighting blocks of text. You could use different colors for quotations from different characters, for example, or for different highlight categories.
Highlighting is done in the same way as it is on any other Kindle—by pressing and holding on a specific word, then dragging out the handles to the left and right and choosing Highlight. Press and hold on the highlight again to choose from four different colors.
Switch between color styles
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The Colorsoft comes with a choice of two color styles, which you can switch between depending on the ambient light levels or how saturated you want the colors to be—though neither of the available modes are anywhere close to what you get with a phone display.
From the home screen, tap the three dots (top right), then Settings. Under Screen and brightness, you’ll find the Color Style option, with the option to switch between Standard (for “everyday reading”) and Vivid, which boosts the color saturation levels on screen.
Open documents and articles in color
Your Kindle can be used as a general purpose document and article reader, too. You can transfer files over to these e-readers in several different ways, including via USB transfer or by emailing them to your own unique Kindle email address.
You can do this on any Kindle, but only the Kindle Colorsoft will show images, charts, diagrams, fonts, etc. in color. While e-books tend to be largely black and white once you get past the front cover, your documents and saved articles might not be.
Show a color cover on the lock screen
Admittedly, you can do this on black and white Kindles as well, but with a color screen it’s a bit more worthwhile.
From the home screen, tap the three dots (top right), then Settings. Tap Screen and brightness, then Show covers on lock screen and presto—whenever your device is locked, you’ll see the cover of the book you’re currently reading in glorious color.
